Samuel Ogbemudia Dies At 84

Brig-Gen. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia the two-term governor of the defunct Bendel State who raised the benchmark of governance and laid the infrastructure for development in Edo and Delta States has died at 84.

Ogbemudia died in Benin on Thursday night at about 11.00 p.m. reliable sources close to him disclosed last night.

Ogbemudia had a very successful military career that was translated into his appointment as military governor of the defunct Midwestern State at the beginning of the civil war.

The legacy he built in governance attracted the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN to lure him into politics in 1982 upon which he emerged as the party’s candidate for the 1983 governorship election. He won the election and served for three months before the Muhammadu Buhari led coup truncated the Second Republic.

Among his legacies were the University of Benin, which he established at the beginning of the seventies and which honoured him with a doctorate degree.